VSCode - messy unittest configuration for django project

Question

I'm using python 3.6.5, django 2.0.3 and VSCode 1.21.1.

In my project I have couple test files (test_*.py) in the following location app/tests/. I'm able to simply run them using cmd: python manage.py test app.tests. I wanted to use VSCode tests debugging so I decided to configure built-in unittest handler.

First I edited workspace settings.json file adding following code:

"python.unitTest.unittestEnabled": true,
"python.unitTest.unittestArgs": [
    "-s",
    "app.tests",
    "test_*.py",

It turned out that __init__.py files are required both for app and tests folders in order to detect files containing tests. I recently switched to Python 3 and was really happy __init__.py files are no longer a requirement (PEP420). But yeah, I had to add them just to make test detection work.

Then I found out that without calling django.setup() and setting DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE in the first place I still won't be able to run my tests. Therefore I had to add the following code at the beginning of every test file:

import django
import os
os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'MyAwesomeWebApp.settings')
django.setup()

Is it all really required or there is some other way to configure unittest in VSCode?

Answer 1

I had the same issue. So, I have manage to run django test in VS with next configs in debug configurations.

{
    "name": "Python: Django Test",
    "type": "python",
    "request": "launch",
    "stopOnEntry": true,
    "pythonPath": "${config:python.pythonPath}",
    "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
    "args": [
    "test",
     ],
    "env": {},
    "envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env",
},

I can use breakpoints and explore test variables state. So I hope it will help you or anyone.